Safety apparatus for railways.



T; M. FREEBLE.

SAFETY APPARATUS FOR RAILWAYS. 4 APPLICATION F|LED.SEPT-23. I912-L155,4?6.

WHTNESSES INVENTOR wmwammi,

Patented Oct. 5; 1915 v v a M 5 mmwm hit THQD/KAS M. FREEBLE, 0FROCHESTER,

SAFETY arranarcs non Application filed September 23, 1912.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, THoMAs M. FREEBLE a resident of Rochester, in thecounty of Beaver and State of Pennsylvania, have in vented a new anduseful Improvement in Safety Apparatus for Railways, of which thefollowing is full, clear, and exact description, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, ir.which- Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view showing one arrangement of trackcircuits used in carrying out my invention; Fig. 2 is a diagramillustrating the apparatus carried by the train or vehicle and alsoshowing a portion of the circuits; Eig. 3 is a diagram showing amodification; and Fig. i is a detail view of aspecial form of contactwheel which may be employed.

My invention has relation to safety apparatus for railways, and isdesigned to provide apparatus of this character for use on roadsemploying block signaling systems as an adjunct to such systems. i

The invention provides safety apparatus of simple and effectivecharacter in Which the engineer or other person in control of the trainis notified by the operation of a signal in the cab of the trackconditions ahead of him.

It also provides means whereby the speed of the train is automaticallychecked or the trainis stopped under certain conditions.

The nature of my invention will be'best understood by reference to theaccompanying drawings, which will now be described, and in which Ihaveshown the preferred embodiment thereof, it being premised, however,that'various changes may be made in the details, without departing fromthe spirit and scope of my invention, as defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings, the numerals 2 and 3 designate the track rails of arailway track, these rails being divided by suitable insulation into theusual block sections A, B, C, D, etc.

B, B B designate batteries or other sources of signaling current, whichare connected across the respective blocks in any usual or suitablemanner.

R, R, R designate track relays which may also be of any well known orsuitable character, connected across. the respective blocks adjacent tothe entrance ends thereof.

S,S, S designate the signals guarding Speciflcntionef Letters lPatent.Pa'gg e ttjqed @6113, 5,.

Serial 1E0. 7531,2893.

the entrance to the respective blocks D and C, and controlled by thearmatures of the respective relays B, E", R in any well known or usualmanner.

.The parts as thus far described. may all be as commonly employed byblock-signah ing systems, and in themselves, constitute no part of'niyinvention.

In accordance with my invention, 1 place in one of the track rails (inthe present instance in the track rail 3) near the outgoing end of eachblock a short insulated rail section a. Each of these short insulatedrail sections i is normally connected by a conductor 5, armature contact6, armature 7, and connection 8, through a battery 9 with. the trackrail 2 in the same block that particular contact section. 10 designatesconnections which extend around the insulated sections 2, for thepurpose of convey ing the signaling current into the rail sectionsbetween said insulated sections and the ends of the respective blocks.

Each armature 'i is controlled by an electromagnet 11, whose winding isconnected in series in circuit 12, which includes a source of current13, and also an armature ll, of a relay magnet in an advance block. inthe arrangement shown in Fig. 1, each magnet 11 is controlled by therelay of the nest succeeding block but one, but I desire it understoodthat the magnets 11 may be controlled from points at any desireddistance in advance- I also preferably place an insulated joint 15 inthe track rail 2 of each block and extend conductors 16 from oppositesides of this insulated joint to the insulated rail sections 4:, in thenext preceding block section, so that the conductors 16 and section 4form a bridge around. the insulated joint 15.

The train or other vehicle indicated diagrammatically in Fig. 2 isprovided with a special contact device 17, preferably consisting of aflanged wheel adapted to travel on the track rail including itsinsulated sections a 18 is a magnet carried by the vehicle, the windingof this magnet being grounded-at one side through the frame of thevehicle, as indicated at G, and connect ed at its opposite end to itsarmature 19.

The magnet 18 and its armature constitute a relay of the type known asstick relays. The armature lever 19 is adapted to contact with eitherone of two points 20 and 21, the point 20 being connected through abattery 22 with the contact wheel 17, while the point 21 is alsoconnected to said contact wheel;

The stick relay 18 has two connected armatur'es 23 and 24. The armature23 1s adapted to make contact at the point 25, from which a conductorleads to an operating magnet 26 of cab semaphore or other signal 27, thewinding of the magnet 26 being grounded at G. The armature 24 1s adaptedto contact with the point 28 from which a connection 29 leads through abrake-controlling magnet 30 to ground at G The magnet 30 has an armature31 whlch actuates a brake-controlling valve 32. 33 IS a circuit leadingfrom the conductor 29 to a ground connection 34 from the armatures 23'and 24, this connection being made.

through a battery 35. The circuit 33 includes a switch 36, which ispreferably controlled by a centrifuge 37, driven by the train orvehicle.

It will be seen from the diagram of Fig. 2 that so long as the stickrelay 18 remains energized, it holds the three armatures'19,

23 and 24 in the positions shown in Fig. 2,

' thereby maintaining the signal 27 in safety position and alsoenergizing the magnet 30, to hold the brake valve 32 closed. Thls fig,-ure shows the normal position of the parts when the track ahead isclear.

Assuming atrain in block A and proceed; ing in the direction of block B,if the track signals ahead are clear and the relay 7 of block A isenergized, there will bea continu-' ous flow of current from thebattery. 22, through the wheel 17, through the track rail, or contactsection'4, and through the winding of the relay l8 to ground at G,

thereby maintaining the circuit conditions as shown in Fig. 2. Thesecircuit conditions-are also maintained when the contact wheel passes onto a section 4, which is ener-1 gized from its battery 9, since therelay 18 is then supplied with current from such battery. If, however,the circuit of the magnet 11 is opened by the action of the relay R thecontact rail section 4 of that block is out off from its supply ofcurrent from battery 9 by the'opening of thearmature 6, and when thewheel 17 contacts with said section, the magnet 18 is deenergized. Thisopens the circuit of themagnet 26 and sets the signal 27 at danger. Ifthe speed of the train is below the prescribed maximum, the circuit ofthe brake magnet 30 will remain closed from battery 35, through thecircuit 33 to ground at G If, however, the speed exceeds such prescribedmaximum, the cen- The energized from its battery 9. Curren athen flowfrom said battery by way of said contact section through the contactwheel to the armature 19, and thence to and through the winding of thestick relay 18. This again energizes thesaid relay 18 and restores thecircuits to their normal condition.

The contact wheel 17 is preferably flanged so as to make side, as wellas tread contact with the rail 2, and thereby cut away ice, snow, etc;If desired the flange may be forced against the rail by a spring 39, asshown in Fig. 4. The tread of the wheel may also be spirally grooved, asshown at .40 in said figure, so as to give the wheel a tendency to climbthe rail and cause its flange to hug the side thereof.

Instead-0f using a single contact section 4 I in each block, I may use aseries of such sections insulated from each other, as shown at 4, 4, 4and 4 in Fig. 3. These short sec-- I tions are alternately connectedWith the track rails 2 and 3 through an armature 11 of the magnet 11",which corresponds to the 'magnet 11 first described. 11 and 11f areproper cab signal, it cannot fail to receive it fromone of thesucceeding sections.

In the form-first described, the breaking down of the insulation ateither end of a contact section 4 will immediately short circuit thetrack relay. for that block and set the proper semaphore in a precedingblock at danger. the arrangement shown in Fig. 3; audit is to insurethis operation that adjacent short contact sections are alternatelyconnected tothe two track rails. provides safety apparatus My inventionof such character that if the engineer fails to observe the tracksignals, he will be given immediate indication in his cab of thecondition of such signals, and if the speed of the train'exceeds theprescribed maximum, it Wlll be either automatically stopped or its Thesame action will occur in speed reduced, according to the character ofthe control effected by the valve 32. lVhen the danger indication isgiven by the cab signal, the signal remains in its danger position untilthe track ahead has been .cleared; and if the brakes have been applied,the brakes will also remain set until .the track is cleared or until thevalve 32 has been restored Lo normal position. The operation of thedevice is free from manual control or interference.

The conductors 16 act as a precaution against breakage of the short railsections 4, since, should any section break the points where the twoconductors 16 are connected Licence thereto, the track relay of thecorresponding block section will be opencircuited. This because therelay of that block would immediately drop its arnn'iture and set thesignal guarding that block atdanger. These conductors 16 therefore formmeans for indicating the breakage of short rail sections.

It will also be apparent that my invention can be used independently oftrack signals, since the short-circuiting of relays, such as therelaysR, R, R will operate the apparatus, whether or not said relaysalso control track signals. It is also obvious that any other suitabletrack controlled means for controlling the magnets 11 may be employed.

V arious other changes may be made in the details of the severalcircuits and in the details of construction and arrangement of thevarious parts.

1. Safety apparatus for railways, comprising a railway track dividedinto block sections, one of the track rails in each section having aplurality of relatively short contact sections arranged end to end andin: sulated from each other and from the adjacent rails, means in eachblock section controlled by track conditions in another block 'section,each of said short contact sections 'being connected to the track railsof the same block by connectionsv controlled by said means, some of saidcontact sections being connected with one of the track rails of the sameblock and some of them with the other track rail of 'the same block;substantially as described.

2. Safety apparatus for railways, comprising a railway track dividedinto block sections, one of the track rails in each section having aplurality of relatively short contact sections arranged end to end andinsulated from each other and from the adjacent rails, each of saidshort contact sections being connected through a source of current withone of the track rails of the same block, adjacent of said contactsections being connected to opposite track rails of the same block;substantially as described.

3. The combination with a railway track having its rails divided intoblock sections, and a rail in each block-section being provided with arelatively shoit insulated contact member, a source of current connectedto said contact member, means governed by track conditions in anotherblock for controlling said connection, and safety appliances carried bythe vehicle, said appliances comprising a circuit containing a stickrelay, a source of current, and a traveling contact adapted to engagethe track rails and also said short contact section, said relay havingan armature which is perinanently connected to the energizing winding ofthe relay and said armature having a front contact which is permanentlyconnected to the last named source of current, and also a back contactwith whichis permanently connected to said contact device; substantiallyas described.

4. A railway track having track rails divided into block sections andthere being a relatively short insulated contact member in each blocksection, a source of current connected to said contact member, meansgoverned by conditions in another block for controlling said connection,a relay on the vehicle, a normally closed circuit controlled by saidrelay and safety apparatus con trolled by said circuit, saidrelay havingits winding grounded at one terminal, an armature of said relay to whichthe other terminal of said winding is permanently connected, a frontcontact for said armature permanently connected to a source of currenton the vehicle, a back contact for said armature, and a contact devicemounted on the vehicle for contact with one of the track rails and withthe said short insulated contact sections, said contact device beingconnected with said source of current and also with said back contact,substantially as described.

5. In safety apparatus for railways, track rails divided-into blocksections, one of said rails in each block having therein a plurality ofrelatively short sections placed end to end insulated from each otherand from the adjacent railsections, a relay having a circuit leading toand controlled by track conditions of a different block, said relayhaving a plurality of armatures and armature contacts, each of saidarmatures and its contact forming part of a circuit from one of theshort sections to one of the track rails, adjacent armatures beingconnected to opposite track rails. substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand. 7

THOMAS M. l ltllEBLE. \Yitnesses (i150. B. Branrme, Gno. ll. lAIl.\[ELEE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington. D. 0.

